If I go to a person’s home, ask for a Kleenex, and am given a piece of toilet tissue, I file that piece of information away. I remember that you do not keep tissues on hand.

If I stay over somewhere, am ill prepared, ask for a Q-tip, and you don’t have one? I find you seriously strange. This has happened to me. Your household goes into a special category in my mind. I remember Those Without Q-tips.

If I am at your place and am in dire need of a cotton ball and you do not have a single puff of cottony softness to your name, I will marginally understand, since not everyone uses them. But I will mask my facial response and not give in to the deep sigh I will want to heave.

I can not live without my cotton balls, Q-tips, and Kleenex. I just can’t. They are good for so many different things and I am never without. If, for some bizarre reason, I run out, it is on the High Priority list to get myself to the nearest drugstore or Target and stock up. Granted, it takes a year or two to go through an entire box of Q-tips. But when you’re Q-tipping with at least two people per box, the supply depletes at a quicker clip.

I keep my cotton balls and Q-tips (usually pink, purple, green or blue) in one of these. I literally have this exact thing at home, sitting on my dresser:

The holy grail cotton container.

Isn’t it pretty?

For those of you who don’t “get” what I’m saying here, then you should just move along. If you’ve survived this long without needing the touch, the feel of cotton…..[the fabric of our lives!] then my hat is off to you.

For the rest of us, we bow to the simplicity and unending delight of having little tufts of pillowy goodness laying around to help dab on creams/medicine, take off makeup, clean out our ears, and on and on and on. As for the Kleenex thing, no human never blows his or her nose, so I don’t know what your deal is if you just never have tissues and are okay with toilet paper. Facial tissue is the one thing that goes the fastest at any office and in some places, is hoarded. I speak from gritty experience.

When I travel, I keep a ziploc bag of cotton balls and Q-tips in my toiletry bag at all times. Talk about a vital necessity. I can’t risk going someplace and not having these with me. I don’t want to have to give someone my “You don’t have cotton balls or Q-tips?” face. The time you don’t have them on your person is the time you will remember that trip in infamy. Trust.

I think I’ve made my point. I probably could have just put the photo up above with “Got cotton?” and left it at that, but I am nothing if not a wordsmith.

Enjoy your day – and perhaps stock up on your favorite cotton products, as well.